County chooses Nixon Peabody to handle Bills' lease

Nixon Peabody LLP has been selected by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz to serve as the county’s outside counsel during its lease negotiations with the Buffalo Bills.

Nixon Peabody was selected from among 13 firms who responded to an RFP the county issued in late January. The Bills’ lease at Ralph Wilson Stadium expires in July 2013, but Poloncarz said he hopes to have a new pact in place this year.

The proposals are being vetted by a committee consisting of Poloncarz, Deputy County Executive Richard Tobe, County Attorney Michael Siragusa and First Assistant County Attorney Michelle Parker. Poloncarz and Tobe are attorneys. Tobe is expected to be the county’s pointman in the lease talks.

“We were impressed by Nixon Peabody’s tremendous amount of experience in these sorts of negotiations, including work on ten previous NFL stadiums,” Poloncarz said. “Also, in addition to having a significant local presence, Nixon Peabody represented Erie County once before in the development, financing and leasing of the now-First Niagara Center.”

Nixon Peabody has provided counsel for work on more than 25 professional sports facilities, including 10 NFL stadiums.

“Keeping the Bills here in Buffalo is not only important for our economy but also critical to the framework of our community,” Poloncarz said earlier this year.

Other law firms responding to the RFP were:

• Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

• Damon Morey LLP

• Hodgson Russ LLP.

• Hogan & Willig.

• Kavinoky & Cook LLP.

• Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP.

• Albany-based Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West LLC.

• Phillips Lytle LLP.

• Squire Sanders LLP of New York City.

• Cleveland’s Thompson Hine LLP.

• Underberg & Kessler LLP.

• Winstead PC of Fort Worth, Texas.

The Bills are conducting an architectural review of Ralph Wilson Stadium that will serve as one of the key backdrops to the lease talks. Sources believe the stadium may need as much as $130 million in renovations and upgrades, a lot of which will be maintenance-based on the 39-year-old stadium. That report is due by late winter.

The current lease, which was signed in 1998, was negotiated on the county’s behalf by the Hodgson Russ law firm.